The Beijing games and Britain's startling medal haul are converting "Olympo-sceptics" to the cause of London 2012, Boris Johnson said yesterday as he arrived in the Chinese capital.

The mayor of London, who will take the Olympic flag at Sunday's closing ceremony on behalf of the next host, insisted that the city would not be overshadowed by its predecessor. "We have been dazzled, we have been impressed, we have been blown away by these Beijing games, but we have not been intimidated. I am convinced we can do just as well in 2012," Johnson told a press conference.

"The success of these games is making them more popular in Britain. I think the successes of Team GB are blowing away Olympo-scepticism."

He added: "I can tell you that the city [London] is in a ferment of excitement about this. People who have never shown the slightest interest in a cycle race are hurling themselves at TV screens and yelling themselves hoarse with excitement."

But he was unable to resist a reference to the controversy over the young singer Yang Peiyi, who was replaced on stage at the opening ceremony by Lin Miaoke, considered more photogenic by senior officials. "Had it been us, I don't think we would necessarily have done the switcheroo with the girl with the braces."

He said criticisms of China's human rights record could not be overlooked but acknowledged he had not raised the issue in a meeting with the mayor of Beijing. "I don't think you will necessarily achieve what you want in this context by showboating and grandstanding," he said.

The London 2012 budget is just over half the £20bn that Beijing has spent, but Johnson insisted that the capital would not see a "mean, penny-pinching austerity show".

He also called upon investors from around the world to help regenerate the east London area where the games will take place. "We are looking for ideas of how London's Olympic Park can become not just a great place to live, work and visit, but a place that retains a flavour of the extraordinary, a place with the wow factor, a place of magic," he said.